After a Dubai court froze $456 million related to TrueUSD’s reserves, First Digital Trust said it supported Techteryx’s efforts to recover the funds after they became illiquid in 2023 following its transfer into a complex investment structure related to Aria Group. This shortfall required emergency relief from Justin Sun to keep the stablecoin operational.
In an email to CoinDesk, First Digital’s Vincent Chok said, “We welcome any action that assists Tekteryx in its pursuit of recovering funds from the Aria entities.” “We are aware that the court has ordered Arya to make disclosures regarding her assets and we look forward to the outcome of that proceeding.”
FDT was not a party to the Dubai incident.
FDT’s relationship with Aria stems from its former role as custodian of TrueUSD reserves held by FDT on behalf of Tecteryx.
As CoinDesk reported earlier this year, Techteryx said it had instructed FDT to deposit the funds in a Cayman Islands vehicle, the Aria Commodity Finance Fund. The Hong Kong court filing then alleges that approximately $456 million was transferred to Aria Commodities DMCC, a separate Aria entity based in Dubai, where the assets were tied up in illiquid trade finance positions.
These funds were frozen following a court order from Dubai’s Digital Economic Court.
FDT CEO Vincent Chok told CoinDesk that the company acted solely as a fiduciary intermediary and executed all trades as directed by Techteryx and its representatives.
Separately, FDT is pursuing a defamation lawsuit against Sun. Sun claimed in April that the trustee was “effectively bankrupt”, which caused FDT’s stablecoin FDUSD to be temporarily unpegged.
“There are no public updates to share at this time,” Chok told CoinDesk.
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